France: Toulouse killer surrounded. Sarkozy wants him alive

Suspect's Al Qaeda ties, 'revenge for Palestinian children'

(ANSAmed) - PARIS - The man who carried out Monday's killing was surrounded over the night by police in the building where he lives, only 3 kilometres from the Ozar Hatorah school where the shooting took place. The 24-year-old claims to be part of Al Qaeda. He says that he ''wanted to get revenge for Palestinian children'' and that he had also sought revenge for the French army's military intervention, according to the Interior Ministry. Three policemen were injured in the blitz, and negotiations are underway to secure the man's surrender. The RAID leathernecks were halted from making a final assault by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who wanted ''to take him alive''. The man who for the past week has been terrorising an entire region, after having 'executed' three soldiers and then killed children, had long been known to the French intelligence services as a person near the most radical Islamic groups and went by the name ''Mohamed'', according to sources questioned in the investigation. The same sources said that the young man, with French nationality but Algerian origins, has spent a number of periods in war zones long the Pakistani-Afghan border. ''He claims he is a mujahedin,'' said Interior Minister Claude Guéant, ''belonging to Al Qaeda, and that he wanted to get revenge for Palestinian children, and was also seeking vengeance against the French army for its foreign intervention.'' His mother was immediately brought to the scene in the attempt to get him to act reasonably but - according to Guéant - ''she didn't want to get into contact with her son, saying that she has no influence on him.'' The man was known to the secret services, since he was part of ''that group of people who come back from battle zones and are always of concern'' say investigative sources. The secret services believe that these people - a few dozens in western Europe - can take action after their return. The intervention, which began at 3:05, was decided on in a meeting yesterday evening at the prefect's office and prepared in great detail.